Do They Know Us By Our Love?

Right now, more than any other time of my life, I see the need for followers of Jesus to show His love. It seems that people are divided on just about everything. This past Sunday, I preached on, “unstoppable love.” Here are some recap thoughts from the sermon.

We live in a world that is confused about real love.
Jesus talked about how to love people, even those who are our enemies.

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

— Matthew 5:43-48

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Really, Jesus?
This was revolutionary.
This love that Jesus is talking about is agape love - an unfailing, never-ending type of love. As a follower of Jesus, I don’t choose who to love, just how. You have never met someone that you and I weren’t supposed to love.

Here are a few ways to love people like Jesus:

• Realize opposition is my opportunity to love.
  When we face people who oppose us, according to Jesus, it is an opportunity to show them love. Loving our enemies reveals that God is our Father.
  

• Pray for those who hurt you (Matthew 5:44).
  As Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed for those who were torturing him, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34). Jesus prayed for his accusers!
  
  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who was a Christian leader in Nazi Germany) in a great little book called “Life Together,” makes this point, “It’s really hard to hate somebody you pray for.”

• Move beyond just loving those who love you.
  As followers of Jesus, we no longer get to determine and choose who we love. Our job is to love the person in front of us.
  

• Our love for others is the EVIDENCE of Christ in us (John 13:34-35)

  The extent to which we love one another validates and communicates our faith. Our call as followers of Christ - is to be the people - who show to the world - the nature of the God we serve.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

— 1 John 3:16

Challenge: What if we said, “Jesus, point out for me somebody who I disagree with, or somebody I just don’t like a whole lot, somebody who rubs me the wrong way, and give me a vision for what it looks like to love them this week.”

Listen to this past Sunday’s sermon below.

Video Teaching and Multi-Site Student Ministry

We use terms like, "relevant" or "modern" to define the multisite church movement, but I think that it fits the book of Acts more than ever. As a church on mission, we should use every means possible to communicate the timeless truth of God in every generation. Through multisite, we are seeing the church grow by planting campuses in local communities rather than building larger buildings at one campus. But as I've continued reading over the past year on multisite, there isn't much information on how this works in student ministry. 

Paul wrote about reaching people with the gospel in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." We live in a visual culture. We can watch news, movies and more on our smartphones. Services like Netflix have reshaped how we watch movies. The video store, where you went to pick one off the shelf, is now becoming obsolete. As fast as the culture has moved on watching media, the church seems to fall behind for different reasons. Media is one of the key components of student ministry. And leveraging video will become the norm in the next 5 years as churches grow and try to figure out multi-site student ministry. 

3 Reasons video can shape the future of multi-site:

 1. Video is a huge part of culture. It is one of the most widely used tools of communication today. Students use Skype, Face Time and other video chatting services to connect with each other. Since the 1950's people have accepted a virtual newsperson to tell them the nightly news. How many people have watched Charles Stanley over the years on TV? God can work through video. He isn't limited to only a live person. So why the pushback in the church? People do not like change. If the content and heart of the communication is engaging, the means are not as important to students. The older generation will fight it but in a matter of 10 years, video teaching will be as normal as the organ is in traditional churches. 

2. Sustainable teaching across campuses.  Most people reject the idea of video teaching because they want a "live person" present. Once you grow to two campuses, it is hard to sustain the quality and excellence of teaching unless you have staff that is trained to teach God's Word effectively. One of the reasons multisite is difficult for churches is how expensive it can be to try and staff each campus like the original campus. Instead of hiring a bunch of people to do the same thing, have a few focus upon the teaching in the big group so that more leaders can focus upon the relationships built in small group settings.  

3. Video extends the reach of the gospel. I love the movement of the local church to go multisite, because it helps reach more people for Jesus. Rather than one campus growing bigger with more buildings, video helps align each campus to learn the same thing from the same person so it is unified. Even better, many people in other countries have smartphones. They can access the YouVersion Bible app and video teaching anywhere, at any time. It is taking the Word of God and helping spread the good news of Jesus longer and farther than ever before! 

Video, like powerpoint, pro-presenter and hymnals before it, is a tool that God has given us in today's world. I am looking forward to how the church continues to leverage technology to communicate the gospel! The question we have to wrestle with is, "Are we going to move forward with new ideas or hold to old traditions that we are comfortable with?" What are your thoughts on the future of video in the local church? In student ministry? 

Jesus is not Customizable

I've been reading a great book by David Platt called, "Follow Me." I encourage you to read it. It is explaining the true meaning of Jesus calling us to follow Him.

I read this section and it reminded me of how I need more of Jesus and less of me: 

"Almost unknowingly, we shrink back from this cost, choosing to redefine Christianity according to our personal preferences, church traditions, and cultural norms. Slowly, subtly, we take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into someone with whom we are a little more comfortable. We dilute what he says about the cost of following him, we disregard what he says about those who choose not to follow him, we practically ignore what he says about materialism, and we functionally miss what he says about mission. We pick and choose what we like and don’t like from Jesus’ teachings. In the end, we create a nice, non-offensive, politically correct, middle-class, American Jesus who looks just like us and thinks just like us. But Jesus is not customizable. He has not left himself open to interpretation, adaptation..."

We do not define Jesus by our culture, but by what the Bible says.

My life should be customized and changed by Christ not the other way around. Following Christ is a continual change and renewal to become more like Him. This is what it truly means to be customized.

Be encouraged! Jesus' customized life for us is better than what we could ever dream up on our own power.